Within Reach
by melissaeverlasting
Summary: Lonely, friendless Ariel has never known a life outside of her New York boarding school. But when a new student teacher with blonde-streaked hair and an attitude enters her life, Ariel begins to wonder if she is really meant for something more.
1. Powerless

**Within Reach**

By melissaeverlasting

**CHAPTER ONE**: Powerless

* * *

Clouds formed in the sky, beautiful puffs of white. They were within her reach.

The sky, a dazzling blue, was all that there was to see for miles and miles. It was right there in front of her.

There were other people there, too. The only others up this high were amazing, fantastic people. People like her. People who loved her.

People who said they would always –

BUZZ! BUZZ!

_Ugh._

Ariel groaned, rolling over in her bed and trying to ignore the radiating alarm clock. She hated getting up.

Well, to be fair, getting up wasn't really any worse than the rest of her day.

The clock was still buzzing, so Ariel got up and stretched, ready to face reality.

_As ready as I'll ever be._

She looked in the mirror, cross-examining her appearance. She often wondered why she had no friends, but could find no real flaw in the way she looked. She was a perfectly normal looking 14 year old girl, even a little better. She had long blonde hair, which fell in curly spirals. Her eyes were a shocking blue, and she was small and petite. No, she was definitely pretty -- but still, no friends.

Ariel looked around her room. She both loved and hated the emptiness of it.

She had had a roommate once. Sarah. Sarah with the pink-streaked hair and the obsession with boys. Sarah who, even at their young age, tried to teach Ariel to "flirt" and ended up running away screaming, along with Todd, Jake, and Cam.

No, she hadn't had a roommate since moving in, when she was six years old. That was just one of the weird things about Ariel -- that she seemed to have no past. No old school records, no old clothes or blankets... No parents, at least that she could remember.

The only thing Ariel knew about her past was that someone had brought her here, to this boarding school, where she had been ever since. This person, who was faceless in Ariel's memory, had said that her last name was Jones. With that, the school had immediately taken her in, and the mystery person disappeared. They had asked her what her name was, and she had immediately said, "Ariel."

After that, it was a complete blank, almost as though someone had taken her memories. Maybe they did, she often thought. It wouldn't be the first supernatural thing to happen to her.

She hoped that she had been happy, once. It was hard to imagine, but not impossible. Sometimes, like in her dreams, a better life seemed just within reach. But, as with today, something from reality always cut in and ruined it all.

She sighed, looking away from the mirror. She reminded herself that she wasn't six years old, and life wasn't a dream. She put on her school uniform and made her way over to the cafeteria for breakfast.

* * *

It wasn't that Ariel was weird -- well, not really. It was just that people thought she was. She sometimes wondered if she had been born with an extra sense, like an extrasensory perception sort of thing. For as long as she could remember, Ariel had been able to sort of know someone -- even before she knew them. She could always sort of tell what they were feeling, what they were thinking, and even what type of person they were. It was like watching a fuzzy black-and-white movie -- she got a rough picture of the person, but no details.

Because of this, people tended to stay away from her. They didn't like how she could seem to read people. If anything, Ariel had learned that what people hated most was for someone to know who they really were.

As usual, Ariel ate her cereal alone at her table in the back, next to the window. Usually while she did this, she would look around the room, picking up on people's emotions. She knew she was probably much too old to find it amusing, but she just accepted the fact that she could do something nobody else could. It was fun knowing things she wasn't meant to know. And besides, when you had a past like hers - or lack thereof - you could do nothing _but _accept it.

_So let's see what's going on today_, she thought, and focused her thoughts on her old roommate, Sarah, and her friends Jenna and Jessie. They were all tall, gorgeous, and popular. But Ariel knew things about them that made them seem less perfect -- like that Sarah secretly loved to read comic books. That Jenna kissed Sarah's boyfriend last summer. That Jessie had put on about 10 pounds in the last month, and was wearing baggy sweatshirts to try to hide it.

Yes, this was fun. Again, she realized the immaturity of it all, but she really was about six years old at heart. She had no interest in boys or makeup or any of that teenage stuff Sarah and her friends talked about constantly.

Fun as it was to uncover secrets about her classmates, Ariel never did it for very long. It felt like such an invasion of privacy. And besides... There were things you never wanted to know about people.

So Ariel stood up to put her bowl away and noticed something standing on the windowsill. It was a dog. A Scottie. Its fur was dirty and it looked almost -- bored? But Ariel loved dogs. She almost felt like she had seen this dog before, but this wasn't possible. Animals weren't allowed at school, and Ariel didn't remember a life outside the school.

She couldn't resist. She slowly looked around, and then, as quietly as she could, unmatched the window and picked up the dog. He looked... haughty, if that was possible. But lovable all the same.

"Got something you'd like to share with the rest of us?"

_Oh, no._

The dreadful voice behind her belonged to the headmaster, Mr. Pruitt. Ariel hated him, not least because his mind was somehow blocked to her; she had never ever been able to "read" him, as she called it. This made her feel so... so alone, so _powerless_.

This was almost as bad as turning around and finding every single person in the cafeteria staring at her.

Ariel averted her gaze so that Mr. Pruitt would think she was looking at him but not really. Her cheeks flushed and she felt like she couldn't move.

"I don't know where you got that... canine, Miss Jones, and I don't want to know. What I do know is this: Expulsion! Suspension, at the very least! Maybe we can even arrange for --"

"Oh, good, you found him."

This new voice was slightly awkward, very defiant, and definitely pleasant. Ariel could have sworn she'd heard it before, and not just in her dreams, either. But this was crazy. When Ariel turned around, she had to blink twice to shake the feeling that she knew this woman personally. _What _was wrong with her?

She was very pretty, with freckles, blonde-streaked hair, and deep brown eyes. Her face matched her voice -- determined, but a little confused. Like maybe she didn't know what she was doing, but had to look as if she did.

"Um... uh... Excuse me?" demanded the headmaster, turning an ugly red color.

The woman made a face and wrinkled her nose. "Ew," she said, and then grinned. "Be careful, or your face will freeze like that."

Everyone's eyes had shifted from Ariel to the woman now. "So, you've got my dog. Thanks for finding him for me," she said directly to Ariel. She gave her such a warm smile that Ariel felt like running up to her and screaming, "Where have I seen you before?" But she figured that would be immature.

Luckily for her, Mr. Pruitt managed to choke out what had been on her mind.

"Did I hire you?"

The woman (at least, she looked like a woman, but very young all the same) gave him a meaningful look. "One of your higher-ups did," she said slowly, as if daring him with her eyes to understand.

After a couple of moments, it seemed as if he did. For a split second, it seemed to Ariel that something like hatred flashed across his face. But she couldn't read his emotions, so she couldn't be sure.

"Very well," he managed to say, though he was having what looked like a panic attack. "Follow me to my office." And he walked away.

The moment the headmaster walked away, the cafeteria erupted into chatter, either about the dog or Pruitt's meltdown. Nobody seemed to notice the woman or Ariel anymore.

She took extra care in picking up the dog, smiling at the woman in what she hoped was a happy manner. Despite the devastation she felt at almost having a dog.

"Here," she said, putting it in her arms. "What's her name?"

"It's a he," said the woman automatically. She looked down at the dog as if willing him not to get mad. "His name is Total..." She eyed Ariel strangely. "Does that mean anything to you?"

Ariel could have sworn it did, for a split second. For a glorious half-moment in time, she was soaring through the air, away from this place. She had friends who loved her, and she had a dog.

But it was just another dream.

"No," she said, looking away from the woman she so strongly felt she should know. "Not really."

The woman, whose name Ariel realized she didn't even know, gave a tiny smile. "Uh, I'd better go follow the Headhunt-- er, Pruitt. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Ariel nodded, confused. Why would she want to talk to _her_? People had run away from having to talk to her for her entire life. This woman was definitely weird.

Ariel didn't try to solve the mystery, though. This was partly because she was going to be late to class if she didn't move, but mostly because she hadn't been able to "read" this woman either.

**

* * *

**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Please, please, please review! (Seriously, I'm begging.) It's been a VERY long time since I have posted anything, and I need to make sure I still know how to do this. Criticism is more than welcome! Also, please tell me that you're confused. That is absolutely my intention at this point. Guess all you want in your reviews, but I won't explain anything -- that comes later! It's Christmas Break and I've got all the time in the world right now, so updates can come very soon.


	2. Limitless

**Within Reach**

By melissaeverlasting

**CHAPTER TWO:** Limitless

**

* * *

**

Ariel's encounter with the owner of the dog had been hanging over her head since it happened. She still couldn't figure out why the woman was interested in her, or why she felt like she knew her, or the dog, or why the woman _thought _she should know the dog...

_Ugh_. Her head hurt.

"Miss Jones! Are you paying attention?" The sharp voice of Ariel's least favorite teacher, Mrs. Rollins, broke through her thoughts. When Ariel looked up, her stern face held a look of such intense hatred it made Ariel flinch. She didn't know why everyone here despised her.

"Uh, yes. Sorry," Ariel lied, twirling one of her curls around her finger.

"Oh, really. Well, kindly tell us what the answer was to the question I just asked," said Mrs. Rollins as vaguely and sadistically as possible.

Ariel bit back her snide response at the injustice of it all, but was equally determined to give her teacher the right answer. She looked right at the horrible old woman and concentrated hard. She concentrated so hard that it scared her, wanted to know more than she had ever wanted anything.

It came to her perfectly, all there, unlike anything she had ever done. It was like... mind-reading. She heard every word of the answer in Mrs. Rollins' memory, perfectly clear. Not foggy like before. She took one moment away from rejoicing to wonder what on earth was happening to her life -- first the dog, the woman, and now this.

But at least she could finally show that horrible Mrs. Rollins.

"I _believe_ that the answer was the square root of 895, or about 29.92," said Ariel in her iciest, most sarcastic tone. "This number was achieved by adding up both coordinates and multiplying them by themselves, and then adding them together and finding the square root." She smiled, happy that she had finally put Mrs. Rollins and her classmates in their place.

Or maybe not.

Rather than looking defeated, Mrs. Rollins became extremely angry, her face slowly turning red.

"Go to the headmaster's office! Now! For goodness' sake, get OUT of my classroom!"

Ariel had a feeling Mrs. Rollins wasn't going to breathe until she left, her face was so red. So she left, near tears herself. Why was it that one day could come along and change everything? Why did nothing make sense anymore? She would have given anything at that moment, as she stood blinking back tears with her back flat against the classroom door, just to _know _-- know who she had been and how on earth she ended up here. Who the woman was and if her dreams were just dreams, or something more. Who Ariel herself was even at this moment.

But Ariel never allowed herself to fall apart. She had a difficult life. That was it. She told herself to get a grip, and to keep on going. There was nowhere else to go, anyway.

Ariel slowly walked away from the door. She wiped her eyes and took deep breaths, and then tried to figure out where to hide out for the rest of the period. She definitely wasn't going to go to the headmaster's office. She hadn't done anything wrong, and besides, she didn't want to give Mrs. Rollins the satisfaction.

Back when Ariel had first arrived here, at six years old, she never stayed in a classroom for more than ten minutes at the most. She would either run out screaming or try to slip out the door quietly; whichever it was, she seemed to have a deathly fear of classrooms. It had taken, basically, threats to get her to stay in class like a normal student. Mr. Pruitt had told her that she would be dumped out on the streets to live alone if she didn't learn to behave like a normal child. Looking back, she wasn't sure he really would have done that, but at the time she was positive of it.

Anyway, the few times she had been able to escape unnoticed, she had gone outside to the grounds to the most secluded corner, where there was a huge tree that could hide absolutely anyone.

Ariel never felt she had grown up. Sure, her voice was deeper, hair longer; she was taller and knew more things. But in her mind, she was still six years old, still searching for her past and a way out of this mean, cold place.

So she ran.

She ran and ran, tears stinging her face in the cold air. This was the only way it felt good to her; the only way it felt like she was doing something.

But as with all good things, it had to end. When Ariel had reached her hideaway (an old, tall Maple) she bent down and held her chest, trying to catch her breath. She wasn't ready to give up yet and look at the tree.

When she finally did, she saw that there was someone sitting in back of it. Leaning against the trunk with her face turned skyward, just like Ariel herself had so often done, was the woman with the dog.

"Oh," she said quietly, turning red. "I'm sorry."

The woman smiled again. "It's okay. I need to talk to you anyway."

Pure astonishment crossed Ariel's face. "Who are you?" she demanded, not caring if she was rude.

"You can call me Max," she said. "Mean anything to you?"

"No," Ariel lied, although her head was spinning again. "Should it?"

The woman -- Max -- smiled again, a little wistfully but mostly determined. Ariel still was getting nothing from her whatsoever.

"There's so much I need to tell you," she said, "but I can't right now. It'll all make sense, I promise."

Ariel's mouth hung open for a couple of seconds, unsure of what words it would let pass. Finally she stammered, "H-how much do you know about me?"

"More than you know about yourself, to be honest," she replied. "But that's not what I'm here to tell you. Right now I need to confuse you. That's really important. Are you confused?" she asked very slowly.

"W-well... Yeah! I – You're joking," Ariel realized. She made a 'not amused' face.

Max grinned. "Good," she said. "You didn't even need to read my mind for that. Now were getting somewhere!"

"But I _am _confused!"

"Yeah. Sorry. But there's a lot I don't think I can tell you right now. I have to ask you something," she said quickly, as if to throw away the other subject, "Do you ever feel like you were meant for something more? Like, beyond this place?"

The correct answer was "Only all the time," but Ariel held her tongue. She was paranoid, untrusting, and finally a little scared. This person knew what she could do. She wouldn't tell her anything. Maybe she had come to take it away?

"I don't want to tell you," she said stubbornly.

Max smiled again. Even though she seemed to be doing it a lot, Ariel got the feeling she hadn't done smiling before now.

"Good answer."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hey! I told some people that this would be up... uh... like two days ago, and I'm sorry for that. I wasn't exactly busy or anything, just kind of unmotivated. Anyway, it's up now, and I hope you enjoyed it. Please review! =)


	3. Fearless

**Within Reach**

By melissaeverlasting

**CHAPTER THREE:** Fearless

* * *

Ariel had tears in her eyes when she entered the school building again. Stuff was happening to her that was far from normal and she deserved to at least _know _about it! She was getting extremely tired of hearing, "You'll know everything soon," too.

Ariel froze. Maybe she knew a way to find out.

She took a moment to ponder the ethics of what she was about to do. Wiping the tears from her face, she wondered who would get in trouble from her actions. Max? Mr. Pruitt? Maybe one of the "higher-ups" Max had referred to earlier?

Ariel decided that she didn't care if Mr. Pruitt got hurt. He was a horrible, almost evil man. She bet he would throw her out on the streets in a second if there weren't laws against it.

Max, on the other hand… Well, she was a different story. Ariel was sure that she was part of Ariel's beloved dreams, and that must mean that Max loved her in some way. She was never mean to Ariel; it almost seemed like it would pain her to do so. But her need to just _know_ was greater than anything at this point, and Max wasn't telling.

Ariel ducked into a bathroom and wiped her eyes, feeling overwhelmed for what had to be the 50th time that day. It was hard to believe that it had only been one day since all of this had started. Now, there was a mysterious new person presenting problems in her life, she could read minds _very _clearly, and she was about to become some sort of criminal, all in much less than 24 hours.

It was a little much for one girl to take on.

* * *

Ariel walked confidently down the hallway until she reached Mrs. Rollins' door. She started to crouch down in order to peer through the window, and then remembered that she had a better way of doing it. Smiling ear to ear, she walked about ten feet away from the door, closed her eyes, and _listened_. Barely breathing, she picked up her teacher's thoughts, clear as day.

_Of course no one knows_, she was thinking, _yet I continue to ask anyway. Pretending that any one of these kids has a chance to be anything. Why did I take this job anyway?_

Ariel giggled silently. She hadn't known teachers really thought things like that. Mrs. Rollins was definitely bitter, all right.

Anyway, back to business. Ariel closed her eyes again and picked up on someone else's thoughts. Sarah's.

_He better not be looking at Katie. Is he looking at her? No, Sarah, you're not jealous. Katie has nothing you don't have. …Well, except a father with about ten times more money. Oh, my God… he can't be _that_ shallow!_

The irony of Sarah's thoughts almost brought tears of laughter to Ariel's eyes, but she continued with her work.

_You need to ask Mrs. Rollins something_, she thought, over and over, breathing hard. This was the moment of truth; the moment on which the whole rest of her plan depended.

She saw Sarah raise her hand through the window. _Yes! _Ariel's smile widened. This was going to work! And that was a good thing… right?

She shook her head. It was too late for doubts now. She filled Sarah's head with a new question and watched Mrs. Rollins' confused expression as she answered. She was wishing hard that she would get the answer that she wanted, while at the same time she wasn't sure what the answer was that she wanted.

Either way, she got it.

_

* * *

_

Now for phase two,

Ariel thought to herself. This would be the hard, terrible, violent, morally gray part… But it would be worth it in the end. She would know who she had been, and maybe – if she was really lucky – who she was at this very moment.

She walked so quietly down the hallway and up the stairs that she was almost tiptoeing. She stole behind doors and into closets at every sound, and she felt like a spy. A spy with an advantage – if she really concentrated, she was able to hear people's thoughts from up to 15 feet away. It was awesome.

When she had finally reached her destination, Mr. Pruitt's office, she snuck again into the nearest bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror.

Looking in the mirror had always been a very hard thing for her to do. The problem was, no matter how many times she looked into it, it couldn't tell her anything. Truthfully, it didn't matter if you had blue eyes or blonde hair. It didn't matter if it was curly or straight or long or short. It didn't matter what you wore or the makeup you put on. None of these things were important if you didn't know who you were or where you belonged.

And mirrors lied. They said that if you weren't beautiful, if your hair wasn't perfect, or if you weren't wearing the right clothes, then you didn't mean anything. Mirrors were made of thick, thick glass, so that they were almost impossible to break, but often had the opposite effect. Even if you knew exactly where you belonged and knew yourself perfectly, a mirror could destroy all that. It could break you.

Ariel hoped that what she was about to do would help her to leave behind a life of mirrors, and that she would never have to look in one again in order to find out who she was. She had known all along that she wouldn't find herself there, anyway.

So she left the bathroom, no trace of fear left on her face. She had to do this; there was nothing more to it.

She still couldn't read Mr. Pruitt's thoughts, but she could read his secretary's. Apparently there was someone already in his office, in the middle of a meeting with him. Ariel didn't even hesitate. Nothing was going to stop her now. She pushed open the heavy wood door, feeling the secretary's shock.

"Don't mind me," she said. Her voice shook a little because she hadn't used it in a while.

_I guess all… mind-readers?... feel like this_, she thought. _Hmm. Mind-reader. I like that._

Then she closed her eyes for the third time and mentally forced the secretary to tell her where the headmaster was and let her enter his office.

"The headmaster is in a meeting with the new student teacher," said Mr. Pruitt's secretary, with a very strange glazed look in her eyes. (Ariel was starting to freak herself out, a little bit.) "It is the third door from the left." She gestured to it too.

Ariel paused a moment. Did you thank someone that you forced to tell you something? She wasn't sure. There had to be a mind-reader's etiquette book somewhere; she'd have to get that.

Confident as ever, she had almost turned the knob on the indicated door when she heard a familiar voice. It was comforting, somehow, although she wasn't sure where she had heard it before. She mentally smacked herself for not having listened beforehand for the thoughts of whoever was in there with him.

But when she tried, she recognized the voice at once. She couldn't get anything from her. It was Max.

Ariel tried to calm down the adrenaline coursing through her body, and began to listen.

"Don't get yourself too worked up," she was saying in an extremely sarcastic tone. "You wouldn't want me to leave and choose another school district, would you?"

"Wh-wh-what are you doing here?!" Mr. Pruitt half-demanded, half-sputtered.

"You know exactly what I'm doing here," said Max evenly, just a hint of venom creeping into her voice.

"I- I must say I don't-"

"How could you think that you could just _take _her and that we wouldn't do something about it? I mean, I knew you were stupid, Boss, but I didn't think you were quite at that level."

"We were quite aware of what would happen if we took her!" the headmaster yelled. "But we thought we could bargain with you, if you would just hear us out-"

"Okay," Max said calmly. "Now I've heard a lot of dumb things in my short little life. _That_ might just be in first place. Congratulations."

"You haven't heard the terms," he said in his horrible British accent. "With us, Ariel can be safe. She can fulfill her life in a normal way and never get hurt. She can be a normal girl, rather than a mutant _freak_ on the run all of the time."

The insincerity in his voice was more than Angel could take. She could feel the mirror inside of her heart shattering into ten million pieces as she burst open the door, grabbed the chair from behind Mr. Pruitt's computer, and bashed him on the head.

**

* * *

**

Author's Note:

I have no excuse for the time it's taken to update. I'm sorry. This chapter is dedicated to anyone and everyone who reviews, because you guys make my day! :) The next chapter will be a little different; you'll find out everything you didn't in this one, too. I just kind of wanted to end it here… Has a bigger impact, right? Anyway, thanks for reading! 


	4. Flightless

**Within Reach**

By melissaeverlasting

**CHAPTER FOUR:** Flightless

* * *

_Okay, Ariel, breathe. In and out, in and out… Yeah, that's it._

When Ariel finally dared a look at Max, she looked as bewildered as Ariel felt. Then she shook her head and knelt down to check Mr. Pruitt's pulse.

"He's alive," she said softly. "Just unconscious."

There was a very long silence, until Max spoke again. "Um… so that's out of the way." Shock and humor colored her voice.

Ariel opened her mouth to laugh, but what came out was, "Can you tell me who I am?" She felt her cheeks redden at the childish question, but waited impatiently for an answer.

Max smiled slightly. "I can, but now that Pruitt's out we should just take a look at your file."

Ariel did laugh when Max stepped casually around Mr. Pruitt's body and pulled up a folder on his computer.

"Here we go: Jones, Ariel."

Heart pounding in her chest, Ariel leaned in to read what was on the screen.

**JONES, ARIEL  
"Angel"**

**Originally part of the "Flock," group of six genetically engineered avian-human hybrids. Observed September through November 2008. Captured on February 24, 2009, by Agent**

The unusually short file ended there. Ariel was having trouble breathing. February 24 was only _two days_ before. She had never been there at all, had she? All of those memories… She couldn't pretend not to be completely shocked.

Max, on the other hand, looked furious. "By agent _who_? It looks like someone deleted the rest of your file. That's probably what Pruitt was doing when I came in… ugh, and I didn't notice. This is just…" She slapped her forehead, continuing to mutter under her breath.

Ariel couldn't remember how to speak. Those dreams she had… were true? It was very difficult to wrap her mind around. She wasn't coming to any sort of conclusion, so with difficulty found her voice.

"This is… true?" she asked in a croaky voice.

"Yeah. You're not Ariel Jones… I don't know why they chose that last name, anyway. Back in, uh, _reality_, you and I and the flock went to a school in Virginia, trying to hide the fact that we were freaks and all that. Not by choice." Max made a face. "Pruitt was the headhunter there too. And according to this, you were being 'observed' back then. And you were captured by…. no idea. God, this is such crap."

"Uh, _yeah_," said Ariel… Angel?

_Okay, when you don't even know what to call yourself, you know your life is messed up, _she thought.

"So… tell me more about… me." She shook her head at the irony of it all.

"You were six. I think you still are, but they've got you thinking you're…"

"Fourteen." This was too much… she was an _infant_?

"In maturity and looks, you're around there. It's all mind tricks with these people," Max said. She took a look at Ariel's confused face and her own expression softened considerably. "This is confusing, and it's evil, and it sucks, but… Haven't you always thought you were something more? Truthfully, you've never been anything else but who you, um, are."

That helped a little, but something was still bugging Ariel. "Am I, uhh… Do I have, like... wings?"

"No. Well, you did. Somehow, they're hidden. I can't see them, you can't see them. I'm 99 percent positive that you still have them… I don't think they can even be removed. And your mind-reading powers, which I'm sure you know about, are dulled down somehow. But that's our next mission. You're going to get your memories and wings back and you're going to be who you are. And they're never going to take you or do anything bad to you _ever_ again. Enough is freaking enough."

Ariel swallowed, and started to call herself Angel. She began to accept her past… no, her present. It was all she knew.

* * *

**Author's Note: **This is extremely short and EXTREMELY overdue, I know. But I like this chapter anyway… it's kind of a filler, but there's some very important things in here. There will be a new chapter up very soon; I've written out a plan for this story so that the ideas will flow better (and faster! :). Oh, and as for the dates, if anybody thinks they can help it would be greatly appreciated... I just sort of guessed for the MR2 timeline, and then took the date from two days ago, lol. Thanks to everyone who reads and especially reviews!


	5. Aimless

**Within Reach**

By melissaeverlasting

**CHAPTER FIVE:** Aimless

* * *

I think I have now used the phrase "creeped out" so much it's lost all meaning, but there's no other way to describe this whole situation.

I mean, Angel was _so _shocked at the whole thing, and it showed on her face. She tried to hide it, but come on… who could stay impassive after finding out that the life you've been living is a lie, and that you're not even completely _human_? (Well, Fang, maybe. I didn't know. Somehow, they always insisted on taking Angel.)

Anyway, now it was time for a plan. Yep, despite all of the confusion and haziness, we still needed a plan. I _am _Maximum Ride, after all. That's what I do.

"So where do we go from here?" asked Angel. "I mean, are we leaving?"

"Yeah," I said, "definitely. We can't stay here, especially since Pruitt's gonna figure out that we opened your file. Plus, when he wakes up, either he or his henchmen will come after us. All I need to figure out is when."

Well, and _how_, but I wasn't going to tell her that. She couldn't read my mind right now, I remembered. It was sort of nice.

"I don't think it should be at night," she said in her little girl voice. "There's always someone awake on watch. I've, like, sensed them."

"Okay, then night's out. What about at dinnertime, or something? Are they more lenient then?"

"They're never really lenient," Angel said. "I understand why now."

I smiled at her, trying to calm her nerves while mine were still dangerously frayed. "Alright, new plan. We leave at night… but you have to use your, uh, mind control. I know it's asking a lot of you, and I know you haven't had any practice but--"

"Oh," Angel giggled. "I've had practice."

My jaw dropped. "Wha….?"

"I had to get out of class and get in here somehow, didn't I?" She grinned. It was pretty scary.

"Um, right. Well, I guess that just makes the whole thing better."

* * *

After a couple more minutes, I had formulated out a whole plan and figured that it was time to get the heck out of Pruitt's office. The guy was lying unconscious on the floor, so you had to admit it looked kind of suspicious.

Angel and I went outside to the tree we'd met at earlier and talked. I told her about the flock and our life and how she'd gotten here.

"I literally woke up and you were being taken," I said, choking back a lump in my throat. "I tried as hard as I could but…" I couldn't finish. The regret was somewhat like one of Gazzy's special clouds: intoxicating, inescapable, and, uh, bad.

Yeah, you read right… bad. I'm a genius.

"Max, don't feel bad," said Angel. It was a little awkward, because of course she didn't remember any of this, but she seemed genuinely sad. Well, that's my baby.

"I can't help it," I said, then covertly wiped my eyes with my sleeve. I decided to suck it up; I was supposed to be the one in charge here, after all. "It's okay, I'm okay. It all worked out, anyway. So tonight we get out of here, and find those… uh, people who did this to you."

She smiled.

We went to the cafeteria for dinner, splitting up so we wouldn't seem suspicious. There seemed to be a lot more air in there than when I'd last been… probably the absence of Pruitt. Ha ha.

I sat down somewhere alone, hoping that no one would notice the ridiculous amount of food I was eating. I saw some old lady with a mean expression on her face come up to Angel, yelling at her. I wanted so badly to yell back at her, but of course I couldn't.

That was hard for me. Staying back. I found that I wasn't fond of it.

Then I saw her make a weird facial expression. She was using her mental powers. The teacher looked really weirded out, but I found it hilarious. She was nothing if not resourceful!

Then I saw the teacher turn around and start yelling at another girl, who was pretty and surrounded by a posse of about 20 boys and girls. How pleasantly cliché.

But still, morally this was as gray as the whitecoat's hearts. (Hmm, I like that one.) Maybe I needed to have, sigh, yet _another_ talk about ethics with this child. It's one thing to have tormentors, but there's a way to deal with it! Not that my way, which usually meant kicking their sorry butts, was any better, but still.

In another way, it made me feel sort of better that she was still creeping me out. Angel was still Angel, no matter what they'd done to her.

I _so _needed to find out who it was.

The plan started off without a hitch: I picked up Angel from her dormitory room around 7:30, as it began to get really dark. She didn't have to share with anyone, because she scared them. I so felt for her… being different, feeling isolated; we'd all been through it. I was sure she'd be happier now that she'd found her true place.

"I hope so," she said when I told her this. We smiled at each other.

So far, so good.

But of course it didn't last.

We were creeping slowly down the hallway to the door, which of course was locked. But I kicked it open while Angel mentally distracted the people who might be hearing it. She was concentrating harder than ever before, because it was _loud_.

The minute it was open we ran like heck to get out of there. We encountered a guard about ten feet along the way, but we were prepared.

"Running away?" he asked calmly, as if he went through this all the time.

Well, he'd never met _us. _I could have let Angel just infiltrate his mind, but I'd asked enough – too much—of her already. I just kind of took him out with my fist. More my style.

We kept running, and I wished Angel still had her wings. I could hold her and fly, but it might cramp our style a little bit.

I asked her, and she agreed, looking a little scared. It was the exact same look that she'd had on her voice when I was teaching her how to fly for the first time, when she was three years old. It made me want to cry.

Well, emotions can be your downfall. Pruitt caught up to us. Angel was gone.

I really don't want to talk about it anymore.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Don't worry, you'll get all of the details in the next chapter. She was just so overcome with guilt here. Please review, even if you don't understand something! Next chapter will come probably on Tuesday, since I have no school (and my sister does… haha, I love throwing that in her face…).


	6. Hopeless

**Within Reach**

By melissaeverlasting

**CHAPTER SIX:** Hopeless

* * *

She woke up and looked around. She wondered where she was and semi-panicked: Where was the flock? She couldn't read anyone's mind. She wanted to know what was going on. She felt like she'd been sleeping for a long time, like for a few days.

When Angel finally got up the energy to stand, she couldn't see much, even with her excellent night-vision. The rolling sensation let her know that she was in some sort of moving vehicle; a moving truck of some sort, probably.

She was scared, but she clamped down on the thought, hard. That's what Max would do.

Angel went over what she did know: she was alone. There weren't any Flyboys or Erasers or Jeb or anyone else in here with her. Also, the rest of the flock was AWOL, hopefully safe somewhere. She still had her wings, but couldn't check her mind-reading; there was really no one around. The last thing she remembered was being taken, probably to this very place. Maybe she was on-route somewhere, going to a place where people would "use" her, like Itex or the School.

Angel shook her head quickly as if to clear it. She tried to return to thinking about the things she did know, but realized she'd run out of those.

Then, she started to get scared.

There's got to be a way out of here, she thought desperately.

She felt her way to what she thought must be the end of the trunk, wishing she had a compass. Or some light. Then she could tell whether she was heading to the front or back of the truck.

She was holding on tightly to the wall, of at least trying to. It seemed like there was some sort of opening in front of her, so she carefully waved a hand around. It hit only air, and Angel began to panic a little--if this was the front, _how could there be no one there_? She wasn't the biggest car expert, but she was pretty sure someone had to be driving at all times!

She fumbled around what she assumed was the dashboard for several minutes, until she found a switch. She flicked it, and sure enough light flooded the compartment.

Uh-oh, was her only coherent thought.

The truck was driving itself. Right off the road.

* * *

A FEW MINUTES EARLIER:

Agent Anne Walker smiled to herself, humming along with a country song on the radio. Her goal was within reach at this point, so close she could almost touch it.

Well, she could. If she went into the back of the truck, it would be that easy.

She felt like dancing; her dreams were coming true. Never mind the things she'd had to do to get there, or that the worst was probably yet to come.

Anne startled a little then. She heard a noise. _This can't be good_, she thought, but when she realized what happened, her thoughts were much less appropriate.

_What is she doing awake? That's the strongest drug I could find!_

As she sensed the child coming closer, she panicked. She'd known that this moment would come, but this wasn't how it was supposed to be. She could explain it all to her -- Angel -- later.

Agent Walker dropped the wheel and opened the door to the truck she had borrowed. Feeling the wind rush through her bleached blonde hair, she made the biggest decision of her life.

She jumped out. _Silently_.

* * *

**Author's Note:** ¡Hola a todos! Umm, I guess I really shouldn't make promises anymore ("What's that, Lucy? A football for me to kick?"). I suck at updating, to put it quite bluntly. Anyway, I made this one longer (sort of... I'm a brief writer; this is long for me, okay? ;), revealed the main villain and her motive (sort of, you have to read between the lines with this) and with double POVs and a bunch more plot twists and stuff to make up for it. ;) In the next chapter: Max and, yes, the rest of the flock, go to find her. I get to use my sarcasm; hopefully that'll give me some incentive to update. LAST BUT most definitely not least, for anyone who hasn't read book 5, you definitely should. And SOON.


	7. Painless

**Within Reach**

By melissaeverlasting

**CHAPTER SEVEN:** Painless

* * *

Not that I was trying to avoid taking responsibility for what happened, but something definitely seemed weird about how fast Angel had been taken. I wouldn't put it past – well, whoever – to have built some new robot, this time with super speed. But I could have been faster. I _should have_.

Despite the fact that I was certain tears were my downfall, I still felt them stinging my eyes as I flew. I was headed back to the cave where the flock had been hiding while I put on this fun-filled show. When I got there, I tried to walk up as quietly as possible. There was no reason to get their hopes up and then go right out on another life-threatening mission.

"Nudge?" I called. She had said she would be waiting for me. "I'm back …" I stopped, looking at the rest of my flock. _Why did I have to see them without Angel so often?_

The looks in their eyes were varied levels of hopelessness when they noticed Angel wasn't with me. Fang's were guarded, Nudge's sad, Gazzy's determined (and also sad, but trying to hide it), Total's angry, and Iggy's vacant (but still on guard, somehow).

"We have to go somewhere."

* * *

Of course, it did occur to me that I had no idea where they might have taken her, since I didn't know _who _had taken her.

But I had an idea of where to start. The fact that Mr. Pruitt was involved in this whole thing made me think of our little stint in Virginia, and I couldn't get it out of my head. Even though when we first got there, we'd gone by car, I was still pretty sure of how we could fly there.

So we went, stopping a couple times to refuel but only once to actually go inside a restaurant. A fast-food place. We sat in a secluded corner and I used about ten of the thirty allotted minutes to tell the story, or at least what I knew so far.

"They made disappearing robots?" Gazzy asked excitedly, obviously completely unaware of how bad this could be.

"I'm not sure, but it's like one minute I was looking at her and the next second I wasn't," I explained. _Now you see her, now you don't._

"Max," said Nudge slowly, speaking for the first time. "I was doing some research on that school we went to in Virginia, or the place we're going now, and… I found some stuff. Hacked into some stuff, I guess," she said, grinning a little. "But anyway, you know how we thought it was a mental asylum or something? It was, for about two months. But before that, it was one of the very first branches of Itex. But they weren't manufacturing food or making jeans or anything, like they do now. It was more like… well, The School. They were designing hybrids, like the whitecoats, but never had any success. The government actually shut them down and used the facility as a mental institution, actually locking up most of the former workers."

We all looked at her incredulously. The things she could do with a computer…

Then I thought of something. "Nudge, did you find any names? Like, any that we might recognize, of who might be behind all of this?"

She bit her lip, thinking. "Not really. I mean, I might just not be remembering everything. But I don't think I remember seeing that many people's names. Just the government officials who shut it down and…" Her mouth formed a perfect 'O.'

"What?" Iggy demanded, always the patient one. "Who?"

"I think… I'm not sure, because it was half-erased, and I was sort of tired when I was reading it but… I think I remember seeing Anne Walker's name on a really obscure part of a government report. I mean, I'm not sure. It was a scan, and really small, and I had to zoom in about 6000 percent. But I thought maybe that's what it said. I wasn't sure how you would feel if I said her name," she finished awkwardly.

"Well, right now I feel like it's necessary," I said. I looked at Fang and he nodded, silently agreeing with me. "Okay, we have to go. Now."

I was thinking about Anne Walker the whole rest of the way to Virginia. We'd stayed with her for a month or so a while back, but considering the fact that she had turned out to be manipulating me the entire time, I wasn't that excited to see her again. Not that I usually get a choice in these things. But still, I wondered what she could have to do with this whole thing. Maybe it was Agent Walker who had kidnapped Angel. I didn't know.

Finally, we reached the school (ironic, huh?). Total started snorting, as if he was too good to be storming the place or whatever. Well, if he wasn't used to it by now, he never would be. At least he could fly now; no more carrying him.

I had expected to hide most of us in the trees somewhere, maybe take Nudge with me and just find Angel and get the heck out of there, Iggy and Gazzy interjecting with their ever-present bombs if necessary. But what happened was that Angel was outside… she was jumping out of a truck. The more I looked, the more she seemed to be alone.

"Be careful," Fang whispered, knowing my tendency to jump right in. "If they can disappear into thin air, they could be there and you wouldn't know." I nodded.

So we approached slowly, and I motioned for the others to hide as I got really close.

Angel saw me – and gave me an extremely strange look, almost like she didn't recognize me. But then she did, and slapped her hand over her mouth to keep from crying out. She walked toward me nonchalantly, but her eyes were shining. I felt fresh tears start in my eyes as I thought about all that she'd been through and how much of it was my fault.

Angel took my hand very cautiously, her little girl voice quiet and serene.

"They did something to me," she said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah. Who?"

"Anne Walker," she said. "I just figured it out. I don't know why she took me. But when she heard me moving around in the back of the truck she stuffed me in, she jumped out."

"Onto the open road?" Huh. I hadn't known she had it in her.

"Yeah... but she did something to me. Drugged me or something. _I can't read minds at all_."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I am HORRIBLE at updating this story.. it's been months, hasn't it? Ugh, well, I'm sorry. I'm also sorry if anyone's getting sick of all of the cliffhangers at the ends of the chapters. I know I shouldn't really do them in EVERY single one, but since I write such short chapters it's really just the best way to end. The next chapter will have the final action and probably be the last one, but I'm not completely sure. You will find out Anne's intentions and Mr. Pruitt's role in the whole thing and how "Ariel" got to the boarding school in the next chapter. Thanks in advance to anyone who's kind enough to review!


	8. Speechless

**Within Reach**

by melissaeverlasting

**CHAPTER EIGHT: **Speechless

* * *

I held Angel's hand tighter, looking around for traitors. It got a little boring, actually. I wanted to get the whole "confrontation" thing over with, kick Anne's butt if necessary, and just get out of there.

Somehow, I felt that I couldn't leave without confronting her, even though you know how much I absolutely _love_ confrontations.

"She _jumped out_ of a truck?" I heard Gazzy ask Angel. His eyes were huge. "What was she going to do? Was she going to take you to a lab or something, or just keep you?"

Angel shook her head at him. "I don't know," she said sadly. "I can't read minds anymore." She looked absolutely devastated. Imagine that – a little girl's worst fear, losing her supernatural powers.

"Why do we have to wait for her?" Iggy asked irritably. "Isn't this just gonna end badly?"

"Probably," I said truthfully. "But we need the whole story. I just… we need to stay, alright?" It wasn't exactly a question, but Iggy should realize by now that he didn't make the decisions.

"Okay, boss," he muttered under his breath. I was about to roll my eyes, but was getting sick of the fact that he couldn't see it anyway and aborted.

_Isn't this supposed to be the climax?_ I asked myself, getting pretty annoyed myself. But then I saw something out of the corner of my eye – looked like a blonde. Suspicious.

Fang had seen more than I had and immediately grabbed my shoulder and turned me about 30 degrees to the right. I saw her then, a middle-aged, pantsuit-wearing, subtly evil, skinny, dirt-covered blonde woman trudging up the path towards us.

"Keep still," I whispered to the others. My mouth barely moved; I had been trained well. "I'll do the talking."

She reached us shortly and stood right in front of me. The look on her face was pretty much hilarious – dirt and grime, mixed with fear, mixed with determination. Cute.

"You," I said, trying to keep my voice even. Inwardly, I was seething. How could she kidnap Angel? After someone else already kidnapped her? Anyway, when you added this to the long list of other horrible things she had done – well, she wasn't at the top of my favorite people list. "What are you doing here?"

She looked at me for a good moment, then had the nerve to say, "You're looking really good, Max."

I wanted to explode but didn't. Y'know, for the sake of progress? Instead I asked her again, in my most deadly, terrifying tone, "So what are you doing here?"

Fang raised his eyebrows at me. Okay, so that had never worked on _him_, but my voice had exactly the effect on Anne Walker that I'd hoped it would.

She shivered a bit, and then managed a weak smile. "I know how much you care about Ariel," she said, "and so I wanted to make you an offer."

This wasn't what I'd expected. There was actual caring in her eyes as she tried to take Angel's hand. Angel shook it off, but Anne didn't look the least bit unnerved.

"Wait," I interjected loudly. "Didn't you just _jump _out of a _truck_? How do you look so – uh, not dead?"

"I'm not dead, and I didn't intend to kill myself," she said with a slight smile. Ugh. "I jumped out of a truck going 60 miles an hour, yes. Did you really think I would be without help? I had – friends waiting to catch me."

_Those invisible things_! That was another argument, though. I wished I could tell if there were any around now.

"Okay, so you were about to make me an offer," I managed. I wanted to roll my eyes at the fact that I was even having this conversation with her.

"Okay," Anne repeated, and took a breath before speaking. "I admit that my method of obtaining Ariel was probably not the best—"

Iggy snorted. But when Anne looked up, there was no expression on his face.

"When you all were here – staying at my house – I thought about my life, and being single, and how I didn't regret it. What I really wanted was a child. A young child, if I couldn't have a baby. Someone I could teach my values to."

Yeah, like how to betray like a pro and make everyone hate your guts. I still didn't interrupt.

"Ariel was by far my favorite—" _Way to cut to the chase, Anne_ – "and I know that she would be much safer with me than risking her life running. But I got to know _you_, too, Max," she gestured to me, "and I knew you weren't likely to see sense—"

Iggy snorted again, but this time, he wouldn't be let off so easy. I saw half of Fang's mouth quirk upward too, but kept my eyes on Anne.

"—So I did what I had to do," she finished. She seemed to be almost pleading with me.

"So what you _had_ to do was knock her out, put her in some random boarding school with your old buddy Mr. Pruitt, convince her she was named _Ariel_ and that she was like 14, and an orphan? Yes, much easier." The sarcasm in my voice could have been detected from China, I bet.

"I didn't knock her out," said Anne calmly. "I drugged her. Something I'd stolen from Jeb Batchelder. It dulled her powers, though of course it couldn't take them away completely. But once I'd done this, she was kidnapped from me! I'm not lying," she pleaded, and her eyes seemed to agree. But you never know with these people.

"Oh yeah? By who?"

"William Pruitt," she said with some venom in her voice. "I used to be able to trust him, but now –" She gritted her teeth, which was really immature. "He kidnapped her to use her as an experiment. He used to be the Director, of sorts, at the old Itex branch that was – well, right here," she said, gesturing at the old school building behind us. "And he wanted to study her, to try and make some more hybrids of his own. He's not exactly …mentally sound, anymore," she added.

"Anyway, he used _my_ drug and told her a bunch of things, like that she'd been at that boarding school for years and that her last name was Jones and all of that," Anne continued. I was basically just listening with narrowed eyebrows at this point. "He signed the papers and gave her very few memories. All of the other students are – oh, well, they're actually wonderful," she said with a twinkle in her eye. It must be those invisible things. Again. "But again, stolen from me. stolen from Jeb." I tried not to think about Jeb's involvement in this.

"Anyway, I finally got her back! I'd stuffed her in the back of someone's truck and drugged her again –"

"Is that why my powers are gone?" Angel spoke for the first time; Anne grinned almost immediately at the sound of her voice. It was a little scary.

"Yes, it's just temporarily, honey," she said in a soothing voice. Angel looked about to respond (not kindly, either), but Anne kept talking right away.

"So I didn't think it was the right moment, and I jumped out. No harm done, except for a little mud!" She laughed. I shuddered. "My friends caught me – in fact, I think it's time for you to meet my friends. Ariel, get out of the way, sweetheart."

"No! Don't hurt them!" she cried.

Anne got _mad_, right then. "I said, get _out_ of the way. There's no need for you to go down with them."

"If they go down, I go down," Angel said in a scary voice. Aw, she must have learned that from me.

"Are you sure?" Anne asked furiously. "You could be so much safer, have so much more!"

"I'm sure!" Angel shouted.

It warmed my heart quite a bit, but things definitely got progressively worse after that.


	9. Flawless

**Within Reach**

by melissaeverlasting

**CHAPTER NINE: **Flawless

* * *

"Come out, then!" Anne shouted madly. "Come out, my friends!"

Angel was a little scared by the fury in Anne's voice, but that was nothing compared to the chill she felt seconds later. It was as if the most horrible thing in the world had come out, but she couldn't _see _it.

She saw Max and Fang look at each other quickly but couldn't read their expressions. Gazzy's face scrunched up, as if confused. Nudge and Iggy simply looked dumbfounded.

"These are the students from your school, _Ariel_!" Anne was screaming now. She sounded totally crazy. "They can make themselves visible on call, but their true state is total invisibility! Making it much easier to kidnap people at the drop of a hat! It's the latest technology!"

Angel froze. How did you stop something you couldn't see?

_Wait a minute_.

What was Angel good for, anyway, if not mind control? She had felt her powers coming back. Anne, in all her haste, had forgotten to give her another dose of the power-numbing drug.

_Oops_.

Okay. Angel concentrated, thinking hard: _It's this woman you want. No matter what you've been told. Everything you've been told is a lie. You want this woman, right here. Let us go_. She kept repeating it in her head until every single invisible warrior was in agreement.

Slowly but surely, the chill in the air vanished. Anne looked really shocked that her perfect weapons had been defeated so, so easily. Angel smiled at her peacefully.

"They finally listened to sense," she said.

"Not so fast!" Anne shouted.

Max groaned. "What now?" she asked in her signature 'I've had enough' tone.

"I believe there's someone else here to see you!" Anne yelled. She looked like a madwoman. "And if I can't have you, Ariel, he can!"

And she turned and ran away. Mr. Pruitt stepped out from where she had been. He was carrying Total! He tried to get away, but Pruitt increased the pressure on Total and he groaned.

"Did you ever wonder," he began in his horrible voice, "why you could never read my mind, Ariel?" He smirked. "Under the drug, I simply… asked you not to. Politely, I hope."

"Not this loser again," Angel heard Iggy mutter. She wasn't sure whether to smile in response, because maybe they wouldn't get out of this. She still couldn't read his mind or control it, which was a low blow for her.

"I won't pretend I'm happy you got rid of my friends so easily," he said slowly, "but at least I can still take y—"

_Whoosh._

Angel could have grinned when she saw Max use her extremely strong roundhouse kick into Mr. Pruitt's side. Total ran into Angel's arms and she hugged him tight.

"This could not have been easier," Max then said loudly. "I mean, first the six-year-old gets rid of your 'great warriors' in about two seconds, and then you don't even bring _backup_ when you come to face all of us?" She rolled her eyes. "No offense, Boss, but I quit. Up and away!" she yelled to finish.

And the seven of them, Angel and Total included, all unfurled their wings and lifted themselves powerfully into the sky.

It felt wonderful.

They watched Mr. Pruitt become smaller and smaller as he lay there on the ground, panting and clutching his side.

"Ooh, beat by a girl," said Iggy. "That's gotta hurt."

"Yeah, you should know," Max shot back.

Angel smiled and tuned out the rest of their conversation. She knew it wouldn't look good on paper, how fast the six of them had overcome all obstacles, but that was just what they were meant to do.

They were meant to be all together, and to beat all odds. No matter what. Separately, they couldn't even dream of being able to do all of that.

She looked up again at the clouds and in a few minutes, actually touched one.

They were closer than within reach – they were actually there, and always would be.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

At least I didn't promise this before now. ;) It's been a little over two months, and I just wrote this. But it came to me in a rush of inspiration - let me know what you think in a review! Oh, and from now on, I'm going to write at _least_ half of a story before I post it. So that this doesn't happen again. Thanks for sticking with this story! I'll be happy to answer any questions or make any corrections if you just mention it to me. Hope you've enjoyed it! Anything I write from now on will be probably be more intense and quite a few years older in nature, but I admit it was fun to write in character of a six-year-old for awhile, ha ha. So if you like my writing, put me on author alert and watch out for me, because I'm full to bursting with ideas. :)

--Melissa


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